


Inner Child

by Cockney_Cecilia



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-07 01:24:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16398737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cockney_Cecilia/pseuds/Cockney_Cecilia
Summary: Inner Childnoun1. A person's supposed original or true self, especially when regarded as concealed in adulthood.2. The unfortunate result of a spell gone awry.3. A very naughty girl.





	Inner Child

**Author's Note:**

> Set some time in season four, shortly after 'Something Blue’. I don’t know where Riley is and, frankly, I don’t care!
> 
> Written for the Elysian Fields 12 years 12 seasons challenge, using prompt #1

 

**Inner Child**

_ noun _

  1. a person's supposed original or true self, especially when regarded as concealed in adulthood.
  2. The unfortunate result of a spell gone awry.
  3. A very naughty girl.



  
  
  
  


“Goodness gracious!” The smoke cleared, and Giles stared around with mounting horror. His face paled as he gradually took in the brightly coloured bunting and shiny decorations that covered almost every available surface, as though some kind of glitter dragon had spewed them across his living room.

 

“What on earth is the reason for this… this… well,  _ this. _ ” 

 

Buffy and Xander looked around with a mixture of trepidation and amusement, as it quickly became apparent that they were in no imminent danger. Well, not unless bad taste was catching.

 

“Not got a clue, G-man. It looks like some kind of... children's birthday party?”

 

Giles closed his eyes with a shudder, pulling off his glasses with one hand while pinching the bridge of his nose with the other. “Yes, Xander. I see that. I can hardly  _ not _ see it, the visual assault on the eyeballs that it is. What I meant was _ : how did it happen _ ?”

 

The answer to his question made an embarrassed meep! and stood up from behind the sofa.

 

“Willow!” Buffy shook her head. “Of course it was Willow. To really cause mayhem takes Willow’s special brand of magic.”  There had been more than a few incidents since her beloved friend had taken up magic as her own ‘super-power’. Willow had come a long way from floating pencils!  But this! This took the cake. “The cake, the ice-cream, party hats and ‘My Little Pony’ party favors.” Really, who needed enemies when your own friends could cause such havoc?

 

Willow chewed on her bottom lip and shrugged apologetically. “Oops,” she ventured, “looks like I made with the kablooey again.”

 

Giles sighed the sigh of the downright put-upon. “That would be one way to describe it. What,  _ exactly _ , were you trying to do?”

 

Willow shuffled, looked at her feet, and then muttered something they couldn't catch.

 

“Don't even think the bats could hear that Wills.” Xander frowned, leaning towards his shamefaced friend.

 

“I said IwantedtodosomethingforBuffy…”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Oh bloody hell. She said she wanted to sodding do something for sodding Buffy, you cloth-eared pillock.”

 

“Spike!!” Xander jumped about ten feet in the air and whirled to face the vampire, who had appeared seemingly out of the woodwork.

 

“Well, I'm not bleeding Angel.”

 

Buffy closed her eyes and dragged a hand across her face. When she reopened them he was still there, large as life and twice as handso- ugly! Twice as ugly. Ugly and peroxide and urgh! Creepy vampire, always turning up when he wasn't needed.

 

“What are you  _ doing _ here, Spike?” 

 

He slid her a narrow-eyed gaze out of his far-too-blue eyes. “Had some information on a demon is all. Thought it might be worth something to you. Was just gonna knock when that smoke bomb of a spell hit me.”

 

Yeah, right. That was the kind of thing he always said when she caught him skulking about, or lurking outside her house, or drinking Giles’ good whisky.

 

“Whatever.” She tossed her hair imperiously over her shoulder, meaning to convey how little she cared about his movements  _ or _ his information. And if that happened to display the line of her neck or the dip of her clavicle… well, then that was just an unfortunate side effect.

 

Spike swallowed, his stare pinned to the column of her throat. 

 

Buffy repressed a shiver with the mastery of an Olympic-level represser. Stupid Willow and her stupid spells with their stupid lusty residue.

 

She dragged her gaze back to the red-headed witch responsible for all the drama. “Help us out, Wills. _ This _ ,” she waved a hand around the room, at the My Little Pony cut-outs pinned to the wall and the glittery confetti strewn across the carpet, “is for me,  _ how _ ?”

 

Giles nodded in vigorous agreement. “I’m also keen to understand exactly  _ how _ ruining my living room will aid Buffy in her fight against the forces of evil.”

 

Even Xander gave a sort of reluctant shrugging nod, his expression equally puzzled.

 

Outnumbered, Willow haltingly explained. “It's just… you're always having to be so serious and grown-up all the time. What with the stakage and the world savage and everything. And Professor Walsh was talking about inner child theory in class yesterday, so I just thought… maybe I could do something for  _ your  _ inner child...”

 

Spike snorted, a gleeful smirk twisting his face as he looked pointedly around at the explosion-in-a-kitsch-factory decor, the wobbling blancmange of a cake, and then at Buffy with a raised eyebrow. “This is bitty inner Buffy's heart’s desire, is it?” He snickered. “Giddy up, my little pony-”

 

Buffy felt herself blushing and rounded on him. “Shut up, Spike!”

 

He dodged out of the way of her swinging fist. “Uh, uh, uh, poppet. Bad little girls get time out or a spanking.”

 

Her cheeks caught fire, and she was just about to throw herself after his mocking, dancing figure, when there was a distinct giggle from the cupboard on the other side of the room. She pulled up sharply, surprise slackening the dark expression on her face. It sounded just like… her.

 

It happened again, a high pitched squeal that ended in a hiccupping laugh. Spike shot her a look of complete confusion. Xander and Willow stared at each other with mounting alarm on their faces. Giles was the first of them to act, striding across the room and yanking open the cupboard door.

 

Out tumbled a giggling mass of limbs and shiny blonde hair.

 

“Well, I never!”

 

“Bloody hell!”

 

“Okay, seriously, that is  _ super  _ wigsome.”

 

It was Buffy.  _ Another _ Buffy. 

 

Xander's head swung wildly between the two petite blondes. “But you're- and she-” he looked stunned, “ _ two  _ of you?!”

 

“Oh golly gumdrops.” Willow's eyes went manga-character wide in her face as she took in the unintended consequences of her spell. “I never meant- I didn't think it would do  _ that... _ ”

 

“Do _what_ , Will?” Buffy asked, even as she got a sinking sensation that she knew _exactly_ what Willow had done.

 

“I just wanted you to be able to let your inner child out for a bit. To cut loose, you know? I didn't mean to, to… pull her out of you.”

 

Buffy stared at the other Buffy. At her identical face and identical outfit and _ … urgh, creep-a-rama _ . “If she's my inner child, why does she look so grown up?”

 

Giles rubbed at his temple. “She's not exactly-” he paused, “it's not that she's a  _ literal _ child, so much, more that she represents the unburdened, unbridled you. Essence of Buffy, if you will, freed from whatever constraints temper your behaviour and actions as an adult.” He looked around the room at his adolescent companions. “Well, almost adult.”

 

InnerChild!Buffy sniggered and stuck her tongue out at him, blowing a raspberry.

 

Giles’ sigh was audible even over InnerChild!Buffy's squeaking. “Just another day on the hellmouth,” he muttered, crouching down until he was at eye level with the Buffy-shaped pile on the floor. “Hello.” He spoke slowly, cautiously, his hand hovering near the second Buffy's shoulder.

 

She tossed her head back and grinned at him, eyes shining with childish glee. “Hi. I'm Buffy.”

 

“Nice to, uh, nice to meet you, Buffy. My name is Giles.”

 

“Do you want to play with me, Giles?”

 

Spike snickered and Buffy elbowed him in the solar plexus, her gaze glued to her creepy doppelganger. The idea that she was a part of her…  _ major _ wiggins alert.

 

Giles looked over his shoulder at Slayer!Buffy with panic in his eyes. “What do I do?” he mouthed.

 

She shrugged and made a ‘how should I know' face at him.

 

Surprisingly, it was Xander who came to the rescue, bending down to help InnerChild!Buffy to her feet with a kindly smile. “Hey champ, how ya doing?”

 

She beamed at him.

 

“Giles needs to do some boring adult stuff with Willow here. How about you and I eat some of that cake and play ponies?”

 

She wriggled like an excited puppy, the tip of her tongue just visible between her white teeth. “Cake!!”

 

“Uh-huh.  _ Loads  _ of cake.” 

 

“Okay!” She trilled happily, trotting over to the corner of the room where a five-tiered, pink and white iced monstrosity of a cake was teetering on the edge of a table.

 

Xander gave the assembled group a smug look that seemed to say 'get me, all baby-Buffy wrangling expert’.

 

The look lasted as long as it took InnerChild!Buffy to grab a handful of cake and jam it into his mouth, smearing frosting across his cheek and lips. She laughed delightedly, pointing and laughing as he spluttered and frantically licked at the crumbs.

“Silly man. You're supposed to  _ eat _ it.” 

 

Buffy stood open-mouthed, watching the antics of her reprobate inner child in silent horror. She had  _ never… _

 

“Buffy! Stop that at once!” 

 

She was just about to protest that she  _ hadn’t done anything _ , when she realised that Giles was telling off InnerChild!Buffy and not her. 

 

Naughty Buffy froze, another handful of cake clasped in her tiny, manicured hand. She swivelled to look at the indignant and slightly red-faced Giles and then Slayer!Buffy knew, she just  _ knew _ what was going to happen. As if in slow motion, she watched as her twin hurled the handful of frosting and squished sponge cake straight at her rapidly advancing Watcher.

 

Splat! It caught him straight in between the eyes, slid down his nose, and plopped onto his shirt, where the pink icing promptly bled into the crisp white cotton. 

 

Buffy gaped. Xander and WIllow drew in identical, sharp breaths. Spike creased up with laughter, clutching at his stomach as tears rolled down his face. 

 

InnerChild!Buffy gave a gleeful chortle and spun on her heel to race across the room, before Giles’ shock gave way to anger. 

 

“Buffy! Where are you going?! Come back!” Willow, belatedly deciding that  _ now _ InnerChild!Buffy was her responsibility, hot-footed it after the blonde streak dashing in circles around the living room.

 

A confused moment later and Xander joined the chase, his own deeper voice joining in her beseechments. “Buff! Buffster. Wait up!”

 

Giles started to vibrate like a boiling tea-kettle, and Buffy did the first thing she could think of: she knocked him sideways onto the sofa before he could simmer over.

 

It worked. He stared up at her with a shocked and affronted expression, but with none of the glazed-over rage that she had seen burning there a moment ago. 

 

“I'll get you a new shirt.”

 

He took a deep breath. “Don't be silly.  _ You _ can hardly be held accountable for- although I suppose if she really  _ is _ your inner child then on some deep-seated level…”

 

“I promise I really  _ don't _ want to throw cake at you, Giles.” (And she didn't, not all of the time: sometimes she wanted to throw his musty old books at him instead.) 

 

“Hmm.”

 

_ “I _ do.” Came Spike's cheery voice, from where he had moved to her side. “Actually, I want to drain you dry and then steal your liquor. But the cake throwing was pretty funny.”

 

Giles and Buffy both glared at him and he smirked right back, eyes jumping between their angry faces and the loony-tune chase that was in progress around the room. 

 

“Shut up, Spike.” 

 

“Didn't say anything, Slayer.”

 

“You didn't have to. It's written all over your stupid, grinning, vampire face!”

 

“You know, I much prefer the other you,” he said conversationally, “Now  _ she _ looks like a bird who knows how to have a good time.”

 

Buffy's mind flashed back to a couple of weeks previously, to Spike whispering to her about how he would show her a real good time, before tracing the shell of her ear with the tip of his tongue. And, oh god, she could feel the blush creeping up her neck and nope! Not Going There.

 

“Whatever, Spike. Just because your mental age is about five years old.”

 

His grin only got wider at that, although perhaps it was the pink tinge that Buffy was sure was staining her cheeks at the memory of sitting in his lap during that stupid spell, while he told her a story about his childhood. What kind of a vampire even  _ remembered _ their childhood anyway? Shouldn't all of the 'raah, I want to suck your blood’ stuff have pushed out childhood memories?

 

“As amusing as this is,” Giles was scrubbing at his shirt with a handkerchief as he spoke, looking anything  _ but _ amused, “It really is high time we figured out how to get it- I mean her- I mean  _ you _ , back.” 

 

Buffy watched as her inner child hurdled a recliner and skidded around a corner, Xander puffing in her wake while Willow tried and failed to catch her in a stasis spell. “Are we  _ sure _ she's really, you know, part of  _ me _ ?”

 

At that moment InnerChild!Buffy backflipped over her pursuers’ heads and landed in a perfect crouch. 

 

Giles raised an eyebrow.

 

“Yeah, yeah, ok. Might be me.”

 

“Maybe you'll be a bit more fun afterwards, luv,” Spike's eyes were shining with glee as he looked at her, “bit less like you've got a stick up your arse.” He dodged, but she was faster, catching him in the nose, “Ouch! Bit less keen on beating on helpless demons too, maybe.”

 

Buffy was just about to show him how  _ much _ she was keen on beating on demons, and peroxide vampires in particular, when InnerChild!Buffy came racing towards them and derailed her plans. Which had really just consisted of hitting Spike in the face. (Only not too hard, because black eyes weren't sexy- and why was she even  _ thinking _ …)

 

As Spike stared at Slayer!Buffy in confusion, no doubt wondering why she had pulled her punch, InnerChild!Buffy launched herself at him. She landed on his back, arms and legs hugging like a monkey as she clung, limpet-like, to him.

 

“Giddy up!”

 

His fangs immediately descended in shock and, with a turn of vampiric speed, he threw himself first left and then right in an effort to dislodge her. “Geroff!!” He bucked and shied like a mustang, his duster flying behind him. 

 

“Faster, horsey, faster!” InnerChild!Buffy wrapped her legs tighter around his sides and tattooed a beat on his ribs with her heels, shrieking with delight.

 

Buffy couldn't help it: she collapsed into the sofa in hysterics. At her side Giles was almost crying with laughter as he took in the hilarious scene.

 

“Little help here, Slayer!”

 

“Maybe you'll be more fun afterwards, 'luv’” she grinned at him. “Come on, lighten up, Spikey, it's just a little game of pony.”

 

He continued to spin in circles, his face the epitome of misery as InnerChild!Buffy wrapped one arm tight around his neck and buried the other in his hair, her high-pitched giggles in his ear.

 

“‘S not funny!”

 

Giles recovered enough breath to speak, his eyes still glistening with tears, “No, it's bloody hilarious!”

 

Spike's expression said clearly that Giles was a dead man as soon as he got the chip removed.

 

Buffy rolled her eyes; the vamp was all talk, even when he wasn't talking. Besides, Giles was right, it  _ was  _ hilarious. 

 

InnerChild!Buffy was still clinging to Spike as though her life depended on it, wriggling on his back like a baby orangutan, with one hand gently tugging on his hair and the other now slipping down the neck of his t-shirt to his chest and- hang on a minute! Buffy suddenly saw her supposedly unburdened-by-the-world twin in a whole other light. That sneaky, vampire-groping hussy!

 

Wait - was  _ she _ a sneaky vampire groping hussy? Or did she  _ want  _ to be? Oh hell, was her inner child acting out her own hidden desires?

 

Spike had finally stopped spinning in circles and come to a halt, a calculating look in his eye as he stared at Buffy on the sofa. Slowly he tilted his head back, allowing her inner child's hand to rake through his hair, touselling it into curls. As her nails scratched his scalp and slithered down his chest he half closed his eyes, like a cat being tickled around the ears.

 

The whole thing looked positively X rated, and Slayer!Buffy panicked. She shot up from the sofa and was at his side in two strides, her hand coming out to grasp his arm as she narrowed her eyes at the imp clinging to his back. “Get off of Spike, Buffy.”

 

“No! I don't want to.” InnerChild!Buffy stuck her tongue out and bounced harder, her thighs clenching tightly around Spike's ribs.

 

Spike grinned at her, his tongue curled lasciviously behind his teeth. He brought his hands up to InnerChild!Buffy's legs, sliding them along her calves to anchor her in place. All the while his eyes bored into Slayer!Buffy's like lagoon-blue lasers. 

 

She felt something molten slither through her, followed by a stab of unwanted jealousy. And then guilt, because the jealousy should have been revulsion. Revulsion that a vampire was daring to touch her inner child: that carefree, spontaneous part of herself that had disappeared the moment she was called.

 

“Stop touching her like that, blood breath.” Xander came panting up beside them, fists clenched. “Let her  _ go _ .” 

 

Spike dropped his hands and whirled to face him. “‘Case you hadn't noticed, bitty Buffy’s not keen on going anywhere.” To emphasise his point he suddenly lurched to the left and dropped a shoulder. InnerChild!Buffy stubbornly refused to be thrown off, clinging grimly to his neck and giggling about naughty horsies.

 

“Okay, Buffy. Little Buff. Time to come on down from there.” Xander put on his best convincing voice, the voice he had used every time he tried to get Willow to finish his homework for him. When that didn't work, he tried flat out bribery. “If you leave Spike alone I'll play tea party with you.” 

 

InnerChild!Buffy pricked her ears at this, her death grip on Spike's neck loosening a fraction. “Really?”

 

“Really really.”

 

“You promise?”

 

“Cross my heart and hope to die.”

 

Her eyes went wide. “We don't talk about dying. Dying is scary and bad. I don't want to die.”

 

Slayer!Buffy winced and looked down at the floor. When she risked glancing back up, Xander was helping InnerChild!Buffy down and leading her towards the corner of the room, where a floral tea service awaited them. Spike, meanwhile, was staring at her with an unreadable expression that set her nerves jangling.

 

“Buffy…” 

 

She tore her eyes away from the mystery wrapped in an enigma cloaked in an annoying vampire that was Spike and turned back to Giles, who was by now conferring with Willow in hushed voices.

 

“Yes, Giles?”

 

“We, uh, we think we know how to reunite your two parts.”

 

“Oh, thank god.” 

 

“It really is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is exactly as Willow said, to let out your inner child. Just… indulge your frivolous side for a few minutes.”

 

Buffy frowned in confusion. “I thought my inner child was already waaay out? I kind of thought that was the whole problem.”

 

Giles coughed awkwardly. “Yes and no. We need you to really  _ embrace _ your inner child, to acknowledge and cherish her, if you will. And that is best achieved by, well, by playing with her.”

 

Spike looked like all his Christmases had come at once. He opened his mouth to make a no doubt dirty comment, but at an acidic look from Slayer!Buffy he bit his tongue and satisfied himself with smirking. Stupid smirking jerk-face.

 

“You mean like, Barbies or troll dolls or something?”

 

Spike snickered. Willow gave her a guilty look. Giles removed his glasses and started cleaning them on the tail of his shirt. 

 

“If that is what your inner child truly wants, then… yes.”

 

Oh, great. This wasn't going to be embarrassing at _ all.  _

 

Buffy sighed and straightened her shoulders. She could do this. She had defeated countless demons, destroyed the master, she had come back from the fricking  _ dead _ . She could so handle a few minutes of playtime.

 

“Here goes nothing.”

 

Xander gratefully gave way as she approached, his teacup clattering into the saucer in his haste to back away from InnerChild!Buffy. “She's all yours.”

 

Buffy crouched down in front of her tea-pouring other self, trying hard not to be too creeped out by the fact she was apparently face to face with a slither of her own subconscious.

 

“Hi, Buffy. I'm, uh, also Buffy.”

 

The other Buffy regarded her seriously. “Yes, I know.”

 

“Oh. Right, okay. Well, that's… good.” 

 

“Are you here to play with me?”

 

Buffy haltingly picked up a china cup, putting on a faux-jolly accent, “Sure am. This looks fun!”

 

The next second she was forced to duck as InnerChild!Buffy hurled the teapot at her, lukewarm tea splattering all over the carpet. 

 

“Liar!”

 

Buffy stared at her, mouth agape.

 

“You never want to play with me! Never!”

 

Defensiveness kicked in with a vengeance. “What do you mean I never- I've been kinda busy saving the world a load, in case you haven't noticed!”

 

InnerChild!Buffy's anger dissipated like sand in the breeze, and she dissolved instead into great, sobbing tears. “Y-y-you  _ never _ w-want to play w-with me!” she wailed, “You  _ hate _ me!”

 

Buffy starred in mounting horror at her irate blonde clone, crying in a mass on the floor. Did her face  _ always _ go that red and blotchy when she was upset?

 

“Buffy!” Willow hissed from behind, “ _ Do  _ something. Be nice to her!”

 

She tried again. “Look, I'm sorry if you feel like I've been, um, neglecting you.” God, this was weird. “But I'm trying to make it up to you now, okay?”

 

“B-but you hate playing tea shop.”

 

Buffy sighed. “Yeah, I kinda do.”

 

Her inner child sniffed, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve. “Maybe- maybe we can play hide and seek?”

 

Buffy suddenly remembered playing hide and seek with her cousin Celia, back in her Los Angeles house. It had had six bedrooms on three floors, and had felt like a never-ending adventure playground to two tiny girls. Her mouth quirked at the side as she remembered the time Celia had gotten stuck head first in the laundry basket, her bare feet waggling frantically out of the top as Buffy rolled around the floor laughing.

 

“Okay,” She found herself agreeing, “we can play hide and seek.”

 

InnerChild!Buffy beamed. “Yay!”

 

“So, uh, do you want to hide or count first or what?”

 

“I'll count,” came the firm reply, “and you can  _ all  _ hide.”

 

“We can  _ all _ … now really, a man of my age... I couldn't possibly...”

 

Buffy struggled to keep a neutral face at Giles’ horrified bluster. “Come on, Giles. It's your duty as my Watcher to help. You don't want us stuck like this forever, do you?”

 

Appealing to Giles’ watcherly duty was a surefire way to get him to agree to duck behind the sofa, or wherever else it was he would make a lame effort to hide. He sighed and huffed, which Buffy took as agreement.

 

“Will? Xan? You in?” 

 

“Uh, sure thing, Buff, if it'll help.”

 

“You can count on me. After all, this whole thing is kinda my fault…”

 

That left only Spike. Buffy braced herself before meeting his challenging eye. “Spike?” 

 

“What’s that, Slayer?”

 

He wasn't going to make it easy. She gathered her patience and ground out, “Will you play hide and seek with us?”

 

“What's the magic word?”

 

Before Slayer!Buffy could leap to her feet and pop him in the nose for his impudence InnerChild!Buffy cried out, “ _ Please _ , Spike. Please play hide and seek with us!”

 

He grinned the grin of the Cheshire cat, dangerous and seductive. “Seeing as how you asked so nicely,  _ Buffy _ , yeah, all right.”

 

Wait- had he just  _ agreed _ ? Buffy was just about to- about to- well, she didn't know, but definitely do  _ something, _ when InnerChild!Buffy turned her back, slapped a hand over her eyes and began counting. “One… Two… Three…”

 

They all looked at each other and then scattered, racing for hiding places in the definitely-magically-enlarged living room. Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy saw Willow dart behind a curtain, pulling it tightly around her. Giles, she was amused to note, had indeed crouched behind the sofa; his glasses slid down his nose as he bowed his head behind the cushions.

 

“Seven… Eight…”

 

Right, time to find a Buffy hidey-hole.

 

Ah-ha! The closet! She turned on a dime and put on a burst of Slayer speed to reach the door on the other side of the room, wrenching it open and throwing herself inside-

 

“Nine…”

 

“Ooff!” 

 

“Bloody hell!”

 

“Nine-and-a-half…”

 

“Spike?!”

 

“Slayer? What the sodding-”

 

“Get  _ off  _ me…”

 

“It’, you that's on  _ me _ , luv-”

 

“Nine-and-three-quarters…”

 

“Stop poking me in the back!”

 

“Then stop wriggling like that-”

 

“Why does that- oh,  _ gross _ ! You  _ pig _ -”

 

“'S not my fault! Involuntary reaction, yeah?”

 

“TEN!”

 

Spike and Buffy fell instinctively silent at the pitter-patter sound of InnerChild!Buffy's footsteps outside the door. 

 

“Listen, Slayer,” Spike hissed, “I'm doing you a favour here with the ridiculous sodding game, okay? So just shut up and be gracious for a moment.”

 

Buffy wanted to be angry with him, she really did. She wanted to tell him that her grace didn't extend to pervy dead people with glow-in-the-dark hair and over-inflated senses of importance. To elbow him in the ribs or stamp on his instep and  _ show him _ .

 

She really  _ did _ want to. Only, the way he was whispering in her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin into goosepimples, was rendering her completely helpless. He was so  _ close _ . Pressed head to toe together, she could feel his touch burning through her clothes. (And since when was a cold vampire quite so  _ hot _ ?)

 

His hands were on her hips, holding her steady where she had barrelled into him a moment previously. Her back was flush against his chest and he was taking unneeded breaths, which she felt as tiny hitches. He was waiting for… what? Oh, wait, for  _ her. _

 

“I… I… it's not ridiculous.” 

 

He chuckled, a sound like slow poured treacle.

 

Her heart rate increased until her knees threatened to buckle.

 

Spike's grip tightened, fingers finding the slither of skin between her waistband and the bottom of her top. “Oh, it  _ is _ , Buffy. Stuck in here, hiding from your bitty kiddy self. And all of this because you've been neglecting to show yourself a good time.”

 

The way he said it made her flush. Stupid vampire with his stupid innuendos and his… _ oh god _ … his wonderful,  _ wonderful _ fingers; tracing little circles on her skin, pressing into the hollows of her hips and then swooping up to strum across her stomach. 

 

“I so  _ do _ know how to show myself a good time.” Wait,  _ what?! _ That wasn't what she meant to say  _ at all _ .

 

His chuckle became silken, ending in a sharp intake of breath that made her dizzy. “I'm pleased to hear it, kitten. I remember those purrs…”

 

Someone ran past the door, and they both froze until the sound receded.

 

Buffy _ really _ needed to stop. Instead she found herself wriggling against Spike, a tremor going through her as she felt the evidence of his excitement against her rear. 

 

“Then less with the talking, more with the petting…” She reached up to rake her nails down his arms, feeling the smooth-hardness of his muscles under soft skin. 

 

“Fuck.” For a moment he sounded completely shocked, but then, “That's it, pussycat, show me your claws…”  he hissed in appreciation, grinding against her as his hands ghosted higher under her top. They grazed the underside of her breasts and she had a moment of blind panic, which was sharply followed by a stab of lust that hit her like a lightning bolt.

 

“Buffy, Buffy, Slayer,  _ Buffy…”  _ Her name fell from his lips: half threat, half promise.

 

She leant back, luxuriating in his touch. “Mmm…”

 

He nuzzled her hair, the back of her neck; blew a stream of cool air across her bare shoulder. She arched, exposing her throat at the reawakened memory of butterfly kisses and just-the-right-side-of-painful nibbles. Spike obliged, his blunt teeth and sinful tongue caressing her until she turned boneless in his embrace.

 

“Turn around.” 

 

It was more of an entreaty than a command, and before her brain could register the words her body had responded, twisting in his arms so that her breasts pressed against his chest. Immediately Spike's hands slid down to caress her bottom, something she should have punched him for, but that just made her whimper and press even tighter to him. 

 

“Fuck, you're even hotter than I remember.  _ God _ , Buffy. I want to… fuck…” His babble only increased her ardor, fueling the fire that lit through her like sparks on tinder. 

 

It was dark in the cupboard, dark enough that she could barely make his figure out. But they were so close it didn't matter: sensation had replaced vision as her most essential sense. The sensation of his hands kneading her flesh, his breath on her neck, his kisses leaving a bruising trail along her collar bone. 

 

_ More _ .

 

She wrapped a leg around his knee, needing to be closer still. One of his hands left her bottom to snake between their bodies and up her shirt, grazing the lace of her bra until he was palming her breast. 

 

Yes! Yes, yes, Spike, Spike, Spike…

 

He pinched, and she gasped, her head thrown back and her eyes slipping shut.

 

And then his other hand abandoned her rear to catch in her hair and drag her forward to meet his mouth, and Buffy was lost and found all at once. He kissed like he fought: unrelentingly, passionately. She could taste the swirl of leather, the cool of a nighttime cemetery, the danger and the bloodlust. His cool tongue was a perfect counterfoil to her warm one, slipping and sliding in a terrifying new dance between them.

 

Spike groaned, and Buffy felt like the most powerful woman in the world. The universe shrank until her sole aim was to make him moan, and then swallow down the sounds; to play him like a harp; to learn every step of the Slayer-Vampire tango. 

 

She was getting her own groping in too, now: hands running across his back and buttocks, feeling the sensuous play of his muscles under her palms. He continued to tug gently on her hair and tease at her nipple under her top, driving her into a writhing frenzy.

 

She needed his touch somewhere else. Feeling bold, she moved to press her hand against his front, outlining his excitement with her fingers and rolling her hips in a silent invitation. His head snapped backwards and hit the wall with a thud.

 

Then, suddenly, the door was thrown wide open, bright light streaming into their dark sanctum. Buffy froze, reality hitting her smack in the face as she realised she had just been caught feeling up Spike's, well,  _ spike _ … In Giles’ closet. Oh god!

 

There was a familiar giggle, and InnerChild!Buffy came into view. Spike's face did something funny, and for a horrible moment Buffy thought he was going to haul her in to join in the fun and  _ nope _ , way too freaky-

 

“Found you.” She giggled softly, eyes wide and shining as she looked at them. “I found you at last.”  There was a soft pop! Followed by a glowing blue-green light that swirled and pulsed around them in a blinding fireworks display. 

 

When Buffy's vision cleared, she realised her inner child had vanished. She let out a startled giggle, and then clamped her hand over her mouth. 

 

“Looks like you're all back together again, Slayer.” Spike eyed her warily, uncertain eyes narrowed.

 

She noted his reversion to her demon-killing moniker. “Yeah, seems like it.” She shifted from one foot to the other, staring at his ruffled hair, his swollen lips, the coiled energy rolling off him in waves.

 

“Guess I better get going.”

 

“Oh. Right.” Her eyes flicked between his face and his panting chest. “Unless… if you still wanted…”

 

“Unless  _ I _ want? Do  _ you  _ want…?”

 

‘I… I still want...”

 

“Yeah?” 

 

There was so much hope and anticipation in that one word that Buffy itched to grab him, to shove him back in the closet and pull the door closed once more. To pretend the world didn't exist for another few minutes.

 

“Yeah.” She breathed, leaning towards him as though he was magnetic.

 

Spike smiled a smile that shot straight to the tingliest part of her. He looked like a panther that had spotted its prey, and she found herself just itching to play antelope.

 

“Buffy!” Giles’ head popped up from behind the sofa, followed a moment later by Willow and Xander, who each emerged from a curtain.

 

She spun, jumping away from a suddenly-very-close Spike. “Uh, hi, guys.” 

 

“Where is your inner child?”

 

She shook her head and forced herself to concentrate on Giles’ question. She could feel Spike hovering behind her, like standing in front of a boombox and feeling the vibrations running through you from your feet to your fingertips.

 

“Oh, right. Yeah. So she found us and then, poof, one whole Buffy again.”

 

“Oh, well  _ done _ . I knew you could do it.” Giles brushed dust from his knees and looked around the room, face falling as he realised the decorations hadn't 'pooffed’ with her.

 

Out of sight of the others, Spike ran a finger down Buffy's spine. She didn't manage to repress the shiver this time.

 

“Buffy? Are you quite alright? You just had the strangest look on your face.” 

 

“What…? Oh! No, all good. Just, uh… demons!”

 

They all looked at her in alarm.

 

“Yeah, demons,” she said, getting into it, “remember Spike said he came to tell me about a demon? Well, it turns out it's a really mean one.”

 

Behind her, Spike started to grin. “That's right. Real mean Big Bad. Needs a Slayer’s touch, if you know what I mean?”

 

“Exactly.” Buffy gave Giles her most upstanding ‘Slayer just looking out for the community’ look. “So I thought I had better go slay it. Right now.”

 

“And I better go too. Show the Slayer where he's hiding out.”

 

“So thanks for your help with my inner child, guys.” Her eyes flickered around the bombsite formerly known as Giles’ living room. “Hope it doesn't take too long to tidy this all up!”

 

“Catch you later Rupes, it's been a blast!”

 

They began sidling in parallel towards the door, a few tantalising inches between them.

 

“One moment, Buffy…”

 

“Hold up, Buffster…”

 

“Wait, are you sure you don't need any witchy mojo to help…”

 

Buffy's hand hit the door and she tugged frantically, wide smile still plastered on her face. A moment later she and Spike were tumbling through and out into the chilly night air.

 

He grabbed her hand and they set off at a run, laugher spilling from their lips as Giles called out in vain towards their retreating figures. “Buffy! Wait, please…”

 

Spike pulled her around the corner. “Come on Slayer, there's a Big Bad just itchin’ to get a taste of you.”

 

She tightened her grip, racing down the road towards his crypt as though she had grown wings. “Bring it on, vampire.”

 

He gave her a look that should have been illegal. “Don't worry, pussycat, I plan to.”

 

This time the shiver was a full body quake; tiny, delicious needle pricks of anticipation all along her skin. _ Oh hell yeah _ , kitten was going to  _ play _ ...

  
  


  
  
  
  


 


End file.
